Matthew McConaughey has beaten Greg Abbott in a new popularity poll for the role of Texas governor.
The 51-year-old True Detective star has spoken previously about the possibility of running for office in his home state in the past, and has criticized the incumbent Abbott for his handling of the Covid pandemic.
However, a new opinion poll conducted by The Dallas Morning News, in collaboration with the University of Texas at Tyler, found that the majority of 1,000 registered voters would back the actor over Abbott if he kickstarted his own campaign.
When pollsters asked the Texan public: "Matthew McConaughey has been talked about as a potential candidate for Governor of Texas. If he ran, would you be likely to support him more than Governor Abbott?" - they found that 45% of respondents said they would.
Meanwhile, 33% said that they would continue to vote for Abbott, while a further 22% pledged allegiance to an alternative candidate instead.
When questioned further, 66% of Democrat voters surveyed said that they supported McConaughey's potential big for Governorship, along with 44% of Independents and 30% of Republicans.
McConaughey previously spoke about his political ambitions in an interview with Rania Mankarious on The Balanced Voice podcast, stating:
"It’s a true consideration. I’m looking into now again, what is my leadership role? Because I do think I have some things to teach and share, and what is my role?
"What’s my category in my next chapter of life that I’m going into?"
However, Forbes reports that McConaughey has only voted twice in Texas since 2012, in the 2018 and 2020 general elections, according to state records.
Furthermore, his political alignment appears to be neither left nor right-leaning. McConaughey previously stated in an interview with Good Morning Britain that he deplored political radicalism.
McConaughey stated: "You need liberals. What I don’t think we need is the illiberals, and what I don’t think that some liberals see is that they’re often being cannibalized by the illiberals.
"There are extremes on both sides that I think are unfair — that I don’t think are the right place to be.
"The extreme left and the extreme right completely illegitimize the other side... or they exaggerate that side’s stance into an irrational state that makes no sense."
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